Chapter Three

During dinner that night, Severus was a mess. He was so nervous that he could hardly eat. Finally, the meal ended and he hurried up to the library. When he arrived, it was five fifty. Severus never liked to be late.

He settled down at a study table in plain sight and opened his Potions book, pretending to read it. The minutes droned on and on, with no sign of Evans, or anyone else for that matter. Apparently, thought Severus, the cool kids have better things to do. Like throwing one another in the lake and screaming. Silly asses.

Finally, at about six fifteen, Severus slammed his book ruefully, knowing that this was too good to be true. Pince shook her head at him disapprovingly, so he muttered an apology and started toward the door.

"Sorry! I was held up!" Lily exclaimed, bounding toward him.

Severus brightened, if possible.

"Young woman, please!" Pince hissed.

"Sorry!" Lily repeated urgently in the librarian's direction , stopping right in front of Severus. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! Do you have to go? You can- I was held up-"

"No," said Snape coolly. "I think I can spare a few more moments of my precious time." He turned, and led her to the table he had been inhabiting prior to all of the confusion.

She fell into a seat, Severus copying, though much less dramatically. "So," he began," what kept you?"

"Oh. James." She rolled her eyes casually as Severus' insides buckled. "He wanted me to watch him play Quidditch- well, not even play, really. He was just going to be practicing outside with Sirius and some others. I told him I was all ready busy and he got upset. He's so clingy! I mean, I like spending time with him, but Quidditch is not all that interesting to me, you know? I mean, the matches are good fun, but watching a bunch of loud blokes yelling 'FOUL!' and bashing into each other is not that great." She sighed. "Kind of cliche for a Muggle-born, isn't it? Oh," she put in quickly," a lot of Muggles think girls shouldn't be interested in sports."

"I know," Severus shrugged, not even noticing that he'd given her a clue. "But I loathe all sports, Muggle and magical, so there you go."

Lily smiled, but merely looked at the table.

"I guess I should get out my work, since we're here to study, or… whatever," Snape announced stiffly, reaching for his bag.

"You don't really have to."

"Oh. Okay," Severus said quietly, looking at her in wonder. What does this new development mean?

She folded her hands on the table. "You said 'I know.' And how do you know Muggle sports?"

"Come again?"

"You said you knew what I meant when I talked about Muggles thinking girls shouldn't like sports. And then you said you hated both Muggle AND magic sports. I was wondering how you knew that. Did you take Muggle Studies?"

Severus let out a huff of air in anguish- he hadn't meant to let that slip. He concentrated on his fingernails and muttered something that sounded entirely like "my fodder's fun."

"What?"

"My- er… My father's… one." Severus closed his eyes. Only five minutes of conversation and I mention the devil. What is this, fucking therapy? Leave me the fuck alone, Dad.

Lily gaped at him. "Wow- I didn't know!"

"Yeah, I haven't got a tattoo on my forehead yet, but maybe you could suggest some colours," he replied shortly.

"Snape- I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, it's just… I thought you were-"

"Pureblooded?"

"Yes."

Severus gave a dry, insensitive laugh. "I haven't the luck to be a Pureblood."

"Excuse me?" Lily fired back, eyes fixed upon Severus, and he realised something:

She's not going to let me get away with being an asshole. She's not just ignoring it like everyone else.

"Look, I'm not a bigot- well, not really."

"Not really?" She jeered. "Just a little?"

"Yeah!" shot Severus.

"PLEASE!" screamed Madame Pince, throwing up her hands. "This is the library!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" whispered Lily, leaning across the table, challenging him.

She was also showing a little cleavage. Not now, Severus, this is certainly NOT the time, he begged himself.

"I have some prejudice, yes. But I regret calling you names when we were younger, and I never really meant it to hurt you. Well, maybe I did then, but now I hope you don't feel offended. I don't really hate Muggles," he told her quietly. Just one.

She lost the flare in her emerald eyes. "I think I understand your meaning, if only a little. You used to hate Muggles, but now you don't?"

"Yes," Severus lied. "That's about it."

She settled back in her seat, her shirt moving over the point of interest, to Severus' dismay. (You sicko, he thought a bit disappointedly.)

He tried desperately to make it right. "I apologise, then, if you were offended by me all those times."

"I was. But, thanks, I do feel better now," she told him, and gave him warm smile. "So, having a witch mother and a Muggle father- what's that like?"

"It's just wonderful," Severus mumbled, crossing his arms. How quickly he retreated back to defensiveness.

"Not a subject you'd like to discuss?"

"Not especially."

She looked interested, but pushed no further. "Well… having two Muggles for parents is a bit annoying. They never know what I talk about, and look at me as though I'm a loon. I love them, though. They are supportive, but my sister…" She made a face as though retching. Severus laughed. "She's such a bratty little cow!"

"Older or younger?"

Lily looked a bit amazed at Snape's interest, and replied," Younger. But only by one year."

"I have a sister," Snape volunteered, trying to be friendly. "She's six years older than me. Abbigale. Abby."

Lily nodded, looking appreciative that he was saying something that seemed not to pain him. "Really? What does she do now?"

"I don't actually know," he stated simply. "She ran away when I was eleven."

"God! I'm so sorry!" Lily said, which must have been the thousandth time that day. "That's terrible. Were you- were you close to her?"

Severus shrugged. "I thought so. I mean, she could be sort of a cow, too, I suppose. She used to laugh at me all of the time. But no matter how much she laughed at me, she still was there."

"She was there?"

"She talked to me. She treated me like I was her age sometimes. And mostly, she was home."

There came an uncanny silence. It was clear to Severus that Lily, who had never known about his life, was just beginning to get a picture painted for her.

Suddenly, she looked at her watch. "It's eight o'clock!"

"Really?"

Severus was just as surprised as she was. It had felt like absolutely no time had passed.

They walked out into the hallway together, looking around as though they had just engaged in secret discussion and the enemy was near.

They stood, quite far apart- Snape in the direction of the Slytherin common room, and Lily, near the hall that would take her to Gryffindor.

At last, Lily said," It was nice to finally talk to you."

"Finally?"

"Yes, I've always wanted to speak to you," she told him.

Snape stared at her, his eyes perhaps a little wide. Could it be that she likes me the way I like-

He must have looked a bit too amazed for Lily, because suddenly, she became defensive. "I felt bad about all of those times, too, okay? And you just seemed a little interesting!" she declared.

"All right," Severus stated slowly.

Lily lost the wild look in her eyes. "I'd better get back, or James will be sending out an interrogation crew. Goodnight."

"Right. See you tomorrow, Evans."

She paused. "You know, you can call me Lily."

Snape knew that this was an extremely huge moment, but he treated it lightly, not wanting to show how much it meant. "Sure thing. You can call me Severus."

"I will," she beamed, and hurried away.